Red Wings News

Ducks rebound, even series with Wings

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Playing without their star defenseman and emotional leader, the Ducks evened the Western Conference finals, beating the Red Wings, 5-3, in Game 4 on Thursday at Honda Center.

Game 5 is back at Joe Louis Arena at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday.

Ryan Getzlaf scored on the power-play and Rob Niedermayer added an empty-net tally for the Ducks, who played with Chris Pronger, who sat out Thursday' game by serving a one-game suspension for the hit on Tomas Holmstrom in Game 3.

Despite having Pronger out of the line-up, Wings coach Mike Babcock said he expected the Ducks to rally without their former Norris Trophy-winning defenseman.

"You're not playing against Pronger, you're playing against the Ducks," Babcock said. "Just like when we lost our people, significant people for us, you just keep playing. That's what good teams do."

Getzlaf snapped a wrist shot through a scene that found its way over Hasek's right shoulder at 5:24 of the third.

Trailing 3-1, the Red Wings fought back in the second period on a pair of power-play goals by Todd Bertuzzi and Dan Cleary. The Wings were 2-for-5 on the power-play in the period.

Pronger's replacement, Ric Jackman, playing in his first career playoff game, scored his first career playoff goal on the first power-play of the game. He rifled a shot from the slot at 11:46 of the period that put the Ducks ahead, 2-1.

It was the Ducks' second lead of the period.

Each team scored on its first shots of the game off of turnovers.

Anaheim scored at 1:37 of the first period when Corey Perry converted on a Red Wings' turnover inside the blue line. Perry scored his first goal of the series, ripping a slap shot from the top of the right face-off circle that beat Dominik Hasek.

Nearly two minutes later, the Wings tied the score, capitalizing on a turnover of their own deep in the Ducks' zone. Chris Chelios intercepted a clearing attempt up the boards before firing a shot toward the net, which was re-directed by Dan Cleary past Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

After the quick goals, the Red Wings blitzed Giguere for much of the next seven minutes, before Detroit was assessed a too many men on the ice penalty. That's when Jackman, a former fifth overall pick by Dallas in 1996, scored his first career playoff goal.

The Ducks power-play goal snapped the Red Wings' streak of 31 straight penalty kills, which had spanned six games ? one short of the franchise playoff record set in 1950.

Forward Teemu Selanne gave the Ducks a 3-1 edge, scoring his first goal of the series with 1:07 left in the period. He also assisted on two goals.

Bertuzzi scored at 7:48 of the second when he banged the puck past Giguere. Cleary's second goal of the game came on the power play when he flipped the puck from the goal mouth over a sprawled Giguere, who made 36 saves in the game.

The Red Wings outshot the Ducks in the second period, 16-6, and could have taken the lead if not for the play of Giguere, who made two magnificent stops in the second period on breakaways by Valterri Filppula and Cleary.

Prior to Thursday, the Wings had outscored opponents, 12-7, in the third period during the playoffs.